The build up to Marathon Day wasn't as expected. Yes I did my longest run, but I did gain a cold and sinus infection after. I tried not to let it get the better of me. But it did. After my 3 miles on the treadmill the Monday before race day, I did nothing due to getting another sore throat and tickly cough- AGAIN! If there was a medal for the illest person during taper week the award would surely go to me.
It's been a mix of emotions since Sunday. I was told to prepare for the worst whilst I was away, our family dog, Jasper sadly went to sleep yesterday. My mum and stepdad were going to do it Sunday, but decided to wait until I got flew home on the Monday so I could say my last goodbye to my beloved fluffy man. He'd been there for half of my life--well since 2004. RIP my fluffy man. So this post is dedicated to you. He wasn't just a dog. He was family through and through.
The flight out was easy and stress free, we got an Uber to our accommodation which wasn't too far either. We were met by the hosts who were effectively letting us live in their house for 2 nights. If they weren't the heart and sole of great Irish hospitality I don't know what is. I'd had many people say before we went, 'Why Belfast? You have to be so careful what you say and where you stay as its still quite dangerous, they don't like the English.' Nonsense. I felt safe and under no threat at all. Jennifer, Paul and their Mammy (I didn't get her name unfortunately) went out of their way to cooked us spag bowl and garlic bread, got beers and fruit in, had a necessity hamper that was free to use if we'd forgotten any essentials, it was lovely.
They too were running on the Sunday and offered some amazing advice on the new route and how to easily access the start and finish and which taxis were the best.
After they left we ate and chilled out. My friend Lizzy was suppose to be coming but unfortunately couldn't, so Jake managed to get the time off work, but we had different flights because the same flights had gone up in price. I love Jake, but I got really worried with him having to catch a later flight. So much so we made him come to the airport with me and Vickie for 3:30pm and showed him which gate to go down so he couldn't accidentally board a flight elsewhere. Fortunately he arrived safely. I was so happy to see his gleaming face.
I went to bed around 11:00pm and got up for 6am. I was appearensive to say the least. I hadn't ran in 3 weeks properly, I felt as though I was getting poorly again. It just wasn't ideal at all.
We ordered a taxi to get the start to which the gentlemen driving actually lived in Coventry for 5 years. In fact, he actually lived on Beake Avenue where my mum currently lives. Such a small world.
We followed the mass of runners into Stormont Park. My God. The dread filled me when we had to trek up a massive hill. Jake joked around like, 'what was the new course description? Flat and fast. Yeah right!' To which I responded with a hesitant giggle.
The start wasn't as structured as I'd anticipated. I didn't set off till 9:15am, as I had no idea the marathon had already been set off at 9am! I pushed my way through the fun run, 9 mile walkers and the marathon relay and got over the start.
We headed right out of Stormont onto a main road called Upper Newtownards Road. The one thing in Belfast I did like was the width of the roads, I'd love to learn to drive here, I'd have no fear of my really bad lapse of judgment when going down a road with parked cars either side. I get so panicked about hitting them or the on coming cars.
The support were out in their masses. It was great. My first mile I believe I got a bit excited, baring in mind I'd set a 12/12:30 min/mile pace as average the first came in at 10:59.
The second mile came in just a, s we were turning onto Beersbridge Road it was here that I made the reference to my watch and the mile markers, which were out by at least 0.15 of a mile. Mile 2- 11:11.
The 5k stage, I really noted at least a 0.30 mile of a difference from my watch buzz to the visual marker. Mile 3 was onto Castlereagh Road 11:24. Now I was really heading towards a desirable pace.
I put race predictor on my watch settings just to see what time I'd likely finish in. It was looking optimistic, fluctuating between 4:45 to 4:50. Then I came back to reality. We were only 5k into the race. No way could I maintain this pace throughout the entire race.
Mile 4, 11:47. Onto Montgomery Road. Past the first industrial estate of the day. Very boring.
Mile 5, 11:31. Cregah Road. I decided to carry my hydration pack. But didn't carry the bladder for the simple fact of water stations. However, to this point I started to worry. I'd seen no official marshals on water stations. Maybe I was in my own world. Don't get me wrong, the church support was amazing. They were not short of water and jelly babies. But I was still surprised to say the least.
Mile 6, 11:58. Onto Woodstock Road, round and into Ormeau Park - the to be finish. It was beautiful. But at the same time, it dawned on me about how much longer I'd be out before I'd see this park again, at least over 4 hours. How cruel.
Mile 7, 11:42. My friend Lizzy rang asking about my progress. I said to this point it was okay. Nothing spectacular with regards to the route. The support was spectacular from the locals. On the positive side, the route was fast and fairly flat, bar a couple of sharp, short inclines. Nothing too taxing on the legs. Mile 7 the course measurements really did mess up. It was half a mile from the time my watch beeped till when I seen the official marker. Dam, what was going wrong? This is something you really didn't want to see so early on in a marathon.
Mile 8, 12:05. Onto Ormeau Road. The main road to the centre. It was my first sights of the centre. It was beautiful too. The old style buildings stood high. It reminded me of Nottingham or parts of London.
Mile 9, 11:33 Chichester Street. More of the centre.
Mile 10, 11:05. Onto Donegal Road. We actually passed Travanagh Street which was where we were staying.
Mile 11, 11:59. Boucher Road. A massive shopping complex, built like an industrial estate. Lost of fast food, which I could of murdered. That's another thing. On the route we went past a lot of KFC. Hmm mm. Yummy in my tummy. But again cruel.
Mile 12:24. I could tell my legs had slowly started the deterioration stage. I knew from now on in, my legs would start to get gradually more uncomfortable.
Mile 13, 12:01. Upper Lisborn Road. Turning right, away from KFC. NOOOOOO. Onto Finaghy Road. Haha. Such a cool name. I'm pretty sure my half marathon. Was just over 2:31. I'd say that was pretty ideal.
Mile 14, 12:41. These 12 min/miles were becoming more apparent. Which was fine. I was still on target pace. Onto Andersontown Road. Another industrial estate. I was becoming pretty bored now. The lack of sight seeing was really starting to lose my interest, it just made me want the miles to be over as quick as possible.
Mile 15-16 (12:47), (12:42). Consistent. I was starting to flag. The inclines were becoming more evident. I was really starting to struggle.
Mile 17 12:44. Lanark way a very down trodden industrial estate. Boring. Here, I decided to put a playlist id made a while ago with all my Nans line dancing tunes. I put this on repeat and tried to forget the blandness of the route.
Mile 18, 14:18. The Shankill hill really done me in. It started to drizzle a little. I wanted it to be over. I'd lost all motivation and walking was becoming more apparent. My calfs were screaming at my. My mid back was surely starting to ache from pounding the hard tarmaced surface.
Mile 19, 13:57. Alliance Avenue. It was here that I came across a gentleman, he had to be in his 50's, carrying a army style backpack with a big sign of his chosen charity on the top. I couldn't imagine how heavy it was. It looked bloody heavy. Whether or not it was 15/20kg I was in awe of this guy. I followed him overtaking him then him overtaking me until 24 miles. What a guy. Fair play. I seen him finish not long after me as we were exiting the park.
Mile 20, 13:40. We went round a beautiful park and I met a lady who was walking her relay section due to gaining concussion. 3 weeks before. Her wise words, "I'm not killing myself over it. You see people getting into right states over timings". It's true. People collapse at the finish line to of races. Overexertion can kill. Scary. You wouldn't think running is dangerous. With an underlying medical condition it can well be. A man running this same event in his 50's only last year lost his life. For some it's an amazing day, testing you limits, for some families its a painful reminder. Always kiss your partners or hug whoever accompanies you to an event. I always do.
It was at this point my Mum and Lizzy facetimed me. They said how well I looked. And then Lizzy said, do you want to see Jay, Jay. She turned the camera and there he was snuggled into her lap. I cried. My Mum said the night before if he deteriorated anymore they'd have put him to sleep that day. But wouldn't have told me until I'd finished the marathon. I was elated to see his fluffy face. But crying and running is hard, especially after 20 gruelling miles. Just at that moment a supporter seen my face and the tears and shouted, 'Are you okay love, do you need a hug?!'. Bless her heart I quickly shuffled on, after telling her I was fine and I didn't want to stop and how grateful I was for her offer.
Mile 21 12:57, onto Duncairn Gardens and N Queens Street. To head back onto the outskirts of the town centre.
Mile 22, 13:08. Loo stop. I had nothing left in the tank. I was faltering so bad, my body felt lifeless. I was having to really put effort to go from a walk to a shuffle. It really was a shuffle now.
Mile 23, 12:57. A flat run along the side of the river. Across the river you could here the finishers tannoy welcoming runners home from Ormaeu Park. Ooo. How bad I wanted to be done. I was back to see Mr Backpack Guy. Bless him. He looked so tired.
Mile 24, 13:36. Over the bridge and back up and boy do I mean up Ormaeu Road. Horrific. Absolutely Horrific. What sadistic piece of shite put that incline in. I salvaged some Jelly Beans. Oo they were a yummy delight.
Mile 25, 14:08. We'd finally peaked and turned left to run back down into the park. The adrenaline surged through me. This marathon was nearly over. I was near to glory. Well... so I though. That was far from the truth. But my body rejuvenated some sort of energy from somewhere. Some bounce back to my stride.
Mile 26, 12:25. So close to the fini... Hold on. I don't see no finish anywhere. Where's the mass amount of people welcoming us home. It was just full of spectators walking in one direction or the other. People who'd already gained their glory and their beasty medal and amazing looking finishers Tee.
26.20 miles... ***buzz, buzz*** I look at my watch. Marathon PB achieved. 5:25:55. Still no finish line. :(. Seriously. You're teasing me now. It went on for what seemed eternity. Then we went back out the park!!! Nooo. What the actual FUCK!!
I finally seen mile 26 on the flags. My watch was 26.60 miles by this point. There were 3 gents in front. The one in the middle was really, really struggling. They were taking him under each arm. Saying, "come on mate. Don't stop now. We're so close. You can't!". I ran past them and gave them a little encouragement.
The crowds were starting to thicken. This must be the end surely? They were shouting "Come on. Once you've turned this corner you can see the finish.". They weren't lying. I could see it. I wasn't hallucinating.
I ignited whatever speed I could to get to that finish line. I didn't even clock the photographers. I finished. I'd bloody done it. My second marathon had been completed!! At times during this race I didn't think I could complete this. I wanted to pull out so bad. But I'd beat the demons in my head. It was over.
A Marshall could clearly see how happy I was and said, "Grab you medal round there. You deserve it. Then you can have a good cry" and by God I bloody did. I walked out trying to find Jake and I shit you not. There was a spotlight on him from above, radiating his beautiful face as I looked directly forward, he was standing there looking around for me. I ran into his arms and just cried into his chest. He said how proud of me he was of me. We walked out of the way of the finishers village and I said to him, "I just need to sit. Let me sit down for a second. I'm in agony" he gotten me some. Joggers and my hoody. He had to take my trainers off, and I winced in bad as he touched my deformed heel (me and my Mum both suffer from haglunds deformity of the heel. It grows a extra bit of bone. If you look side on. My heel has a little spur sticking out if you like. That's the best way I can describe it). After this we got the shuttle bus to the centre and then a cab back to the house.
I had a well deserved soak in the bath. We then headed back into Belfast Centre for some dinner. I was so hungry. I hadn't eaten since 6am properly. I was in pain and hangry. It wasn't a good combo. Because it was the day before bank holiday and because of the marathon, everywhere was rammed. You can imagine how angry I was getting when in every bar/restaurant we went to, we were met with a 45min wait and that was just for a table. I said to Jake. For goodness sake. I knew we should have chilled back at the house and ordered a takeaway. We finally got seated rather quickly in Pizza Express and the food was delicious. Obviously we walked to a pub and drank a pint of Guiness as a must in any part of Ireland and went home to bed.
I didn't know my time until later that night. But in between that, I seen press releases on BBC sports news that the lead car went the wrong way twice and the race director admitted full liability for the course measurements being out by 0.30 of a mile. Well put it this way. My watch said 26.97 miles when I clicked stop. But let's face it. It was a new route. These are mere teething problems. It happens. However gutted I was as my watch paused when I went to the loo also, so I didn't have a concrete finishers time. Fair play to Belfast marathon. They issued readjusted times. In which mine came in at 5:33 oppose to 5:41 online. I swear that was the gun time. In my opinion I think it was more to 5:31. But. Who cares. I'll take 5:33. Its a personal best by 5 minutes from the Hull marathon in 2016. Its now Wednesday following race day, and everything seems to feel relatively back to normal. I'm aiming to go out tomorrow for a recovery 5k.
Next event is the Birmingham 10k at the end of this month. Again the route has been changed and I'm not overly excited for it. It looks really bloody bland. Running across and back on yourself on a dual carriageway/main road. But we shall see. I was going to sit it out this year. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I have done this event every year without fail. It was my second ever proper event in the running world.
